Improvement in tubing for oil-wells



UNrrED STATES PATENT OEEicEo JAMES D. BRYSON, PETROLEUM CENTRE, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN TUBIN'G FOR OIL-WELLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 52,523, dated February 13, 1866,

To all whom t may concern:

Beit known that I,"JAMES D. BRYSON, ot' Petroleum Centre, in the county of Venango and State of Pennsylvania, h/ave invented a new and useful Improvement in Tubing Oil and other Wells; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification.

The drawing, consisting of only one figure, represents a section of a well to which my nvention has been applied.

This invention consists in surrounding the Well-tube of an oil orother deep well through which oil or other liquid is usually raised from the bottom of the well with an outer supple'- mentary tube extending downward from above the surface of the earth to a point below the place for applying the usual water packing and applying such packing around the said outer tube instead of to the well or pump tube.

In tubing oil andother deep wells it has been usual hitherto to surround the pum p-tube with a seed-bag or other packing device at such a point in the well as will. cut off water from springs and other sources and preventit from reaching the bottom of the well. This method is attended with difficulties, bothin operating the well and in withdrawing the pump-tube for repairs and other purposes, which are removed by my invention.

A designates a well, and Bthe usual welltube, which extends to the bottom of the well and receives the valves and piston of apump. G is a supplementary tube or cylinder, which is carried down around the well-tube to a point below where the usual packing is to be applied. A collar, c, is fitted around the welltube B where it enters the outer tube, andthe collar may be fitted like a stuffing-box, if thought desirable.

D represents the usual seed-bag packing applied about the lower part of the outer tube at such a depth in the well as to prevent fresh water from ruiming into the lower part of the well. The said tube G has a spout, c. The well-tube B is steadied within the outer tube and kept in a central position by means of steady-pins d, (three or n1ore,) which may be placed at any suitable point on it, and the lower part of said well-tube is provided with jointed arms c, (three or more,) setting forth from a band which surrounds said tube, which arms are of such a length as to reach the sides of the well and keep the tube from being vibrated and displaced by the operation of the pump and the pressure of gas and liquid in the well. The said arms a-re inclined upward to ward the sides of the well-tube when the tube is lowered within the outer tube, and their gravity will cause them to fall outward against the sides ot' the well when they pass the bottom of the outer tube. They are to be made ot' such light proportions and small strength as to offer no serious resistance to the withdrawal of the well-tube upward through the upper tube, it being intended that they shall be broken or bent against the sides of the well or against the bottom of the outer tube when the well-tube is drawn upward.

The well-tube has the usual spout b for the discharge of oil or other liquid from the well.

By this construction I provide an unobstructed annular space around the well-tube from the top to the bottom of the well, and yet effectually cutoff fresh water from the well and leave the bottom of the well open to the pressure of the atmosphere, and thereby assist the operation of the pump by allowing the pressure of the atmosphere to act upon the liquids which surround the well-tube.

By means of this construction I also provide for the speedy and easy withdrawal ofthe welltube for repairing its valve or for other purposes without disturbing the packing.

When the well-tube has been taken up' and its arms e broken off or bent in pulling it through the outer tube it will be necessary to lit a new collar and jointed arms about it before lowering it again into the well. When a well is tubed in this manner oil and other liquids may be obtained therefrom by pumping or by any other appliance for raising' liquids from deep wells-such, for instance, as the appliance known by the name of eiecto1"-and .when the pressure of gas or liquid is sufficient to overcome the pressure of the atmosphere and to force them to the top of the well theyY are free to ascend without obstruction from the packing or from the valves of the pump and without disturbing the well-tube.

This construction also, by means of the unobstructed space around the well-tube extending from the top to the bottom of the wel1,en

ables me to apply steam or hot air or other appliances to the bottom of the well in order to dissolve or remove the paratne or whatever other substance may obstruct or cover the Veins and crevices otl the rock and prevent the iioW ot oil.

Wells in which the packing is applied directly to the well-tube, so that the only access to the bottoms ot' the wells is through the welltube,a1'e often obstructed and their pumpingl apparatus made inoperative by reason of the presence ot' gas in the tube, which sometimes forces lthe piston upward and puts a stop to the operation of pumping. This cannot occur where a well is tubud according to my invention, since the gas may lalways escape upward through the space outside ot' the well-tube and be discharged through thespout c.

I1t' the oil or other liquid found in the well is at any time forced upward lby pressure from below or from its source, suchoilor other liquid is not, when my invention is used, con1- pi-lled to pass through the well-tube, but it may also pass upward through the said annular .space and be discharged through the spout c into a tank or reservoir, and consequently the pumping apparatus will not be interfered with or injured by the pressure of the gas or ot' the oil or other liquid, neither Will it become necessary to remove the valves or piston or other parts ot' the pumping apparatus from theI well-tube when gas or oil or otherliquid is forced np under pressure from below, as aforesaid.

Another advantage which arises from the use of my invention is the protection it gives to neighboring Wells, which are often hooded so as to he destroyed when a well-tube with its packing` is removed from a well. In such cases itis supposed that the water which is allowed to run into the bottom ot' the well draws out the oil or forces it into new directions, so

lthat neighboring wells which have been drawing oil from the same veins or crevices or from reservoirs or fissures in the rock connected with each other are affected in the same Way as the well whose well-tube has been removed; but when my invention is used this cannot occur by reason of the removal of a Well-tube, since it is independent of the packing oi' the well.

.l do not claim the use ot' steam or compressed air for raising oil or other liquids from wells.

.l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentv l. The combination of the pump-tube B, the shorter supplemental tube C, and steadv-pins (l rl d, adapted to operate substantially as and for the purposes set forth. y

2. The arms c c e, hinged around the tube B so as to operate as described.

JAMES D. BnYsoN.

Vitnesses:

NIsSIAN IRWIN, WILLIAM R. DUNLAP. 

